Ian Allan's Mailbag
Posted Feb. 26 at 09:08 AM
Publisher Ian Allan fields your questions on strategy, how to run your league, player ratings -- and whatever else you think of. Updated every Friday during the season; Tuesdays and Fridays during the last two months of the preseason. You must be registered and signed-in to submit a mailbag question. After you sign in at the top of the page, the link to submit a mailbag question will become visible.
Question 1:
Last year I drafted Shonn Greene in the 14th round of a keeper league. I could keep him with my 12th round pick in this year's draft. After his stellar performance in the playoffs: Will he supplant Thomas Jones as the starter next year? And what round would you project him to be drafted? I am hoping to get some real value out of that investment last year. Thanks for the help and keep up the great work at Fantasy Index.
Graham Goeddel [Jacksonville, FL]
A:
If I were walking into a draft today, I would expect Greene to be selected in the third or fourth round. That would skew a little higher or lower, based on scoring system. He won’t do much as a pass catcher, which will hurt him in leagues that give credit for receiving production, particularly PPR leagues (Greene didn’t catch a single pass in the regular season last year, and he caught only one in the playoffs). I honestly think he’ll catch only about 7-10 passes all of next year. But he looked very good at the end of last season – like a young Michael Turner, really. He’s built low to the ground, he breaks tackles, and he’s got some speed – he showed that on the long touchdown run at San Diego in the playoffs. I think he’ll be New York’s top running back. The Jets could release Thomas Jones soon. He’s due a $2.8 million bonus within two weeks, and I don’t think they’ll pay that. Jones played well enough last year, but he’ll be 32 in August. I don’t think New York wants to commit close to $6 million for a running back who’s nearing the end of the road. They also have Leon Washington, but he’s coming off a leg injury and is a smaller, change-of-pace back anyway. I like Greene. In a 12-team league, I would jump at the chance to lock him up now for as little as a fifth-round pick – I would consider that to be a steal-type situation. No doubt you’ll be holding onto him for just a 12th-round choice. Right now, he projects to be one of your key building blocks for the 2010 season.
Question 2:
My league is entering its 20th season, and we've finally decided to add two new teams and become a 12-team league. My question is, what do you feel is the best format for a 12-team league: three 4-team divisions (with one wild card), or two 6-team divisions (with two wild cards)?
JODY SMITH [LEAGUE CITY, TX]
A:
I think the format with four-team divisions looks a lot more appealing. It’s far more similar to what you see in the mother league, and it’s better for scheduling. With four-team divisions, you play everyone once, plus an additional game against teams inside the division, making 14 weeks – leaving two weeks for the playoffs. I’m not even sure how you’d schedule a league with 6-team divisions. You’d either have to play some division opponents only once (bad) or not even play some teams from the other division at all (even worse). I will throw out another possibility for you to consider: Don’t put the teams in divisions at all, and have everyone play each other twice. Each team would play 22 regular-season games (to fit them all in, of course, you’d have to play double headers on many of the weeks of the regular season). The downside of this approach is that it’s different from how you’ve always run it and decreases the value of games. The upside is that the schedule is very fair, and it reduces the luck factor – it makes it harder to get into the playoffs by happening to have played an easy schedule. You could play the 22 games in either 14 weeks, with the top four teams making the playoffs, or you could play them in 13 weeks, with the top six making the playoffs (and the top two finishers getting byes in the first round of the playoffs).
Question 3:
I have had a two-year disagreement with a fellow team owner in my league. I have had Marion Barber & Tashard Choice on my team and he has Felix Jones. Over the last two years, he has offered me RBs without a lot of upside. This year he traded for Reggie Bush. If we swap RBs, is Bush fair value for Barber? I also know that this is a difficult question to answer as there are many variables coming up with free agency and the draft coming up?
JOHN SHELBROCK [FRANKENMUTH, MI]
A:
I would rather have Barber, but it’s early. I’m not even sure where Reggie Bush will play. The Saints may have to release him. He’s due a base salary of $8 million; no way are they going to pay him that kind of money. Bush catches a lot of passes, which inflates his value in some fantasy formats, but he’s also had a lot of injuries. I’m not sure we can count on him playing more than 12 games. I also see that you’ve Choice. He’s also a candidate to be traded – hard to believe the Cowboys will continue to sit on him, since they’ve got Barber and Jones. The Chargers reportedly have offered Antonio Cromartie in exchange for Choice.
Question 4:
Been thinking if Moreno was keeper worthy with a 3.9 avg, then saw how his rookie stat line is almost identical to Emmitt Smith's rookie year.
Chris Moosh [DEWITT, MI]
A:
I thought Moreno was kind of a disappointment as a rookie. He was OK. He’ll get better with experience. He’ll definitely be Denver’s featured back next year. But Moreno didn’t wow me. I didn’t see any magic. Correll Buckhalter outperformed him in almost every game. Buckhalter averaged 5.4 yards per carry – over a yard and a half more than Moreno. I suppose if Buckhalter was the guy they’d selected in the first round, we’d all be talking him up right now. So I’m not buying into the theory yet that Moreno is on the Emmitt track. As I recall with Smith, he was set back as a rookie by a monster holdout (he wasn’t even active for the initial games). And Smith came on late in his first season, scoring 4 TDs in a game.
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Question 2: My league is entering its...
Posted by ADAM HOLTZ | Feb. 26 at 09:58 AM
My 12-team league is looking at realigning *from* the aforementioned three-division structure to a two-conference, four-division arrangement. With three teams in each division, everyone plays two games against division teams, and one game against everyone else. This makes for a 13-game regular season, and then we'd have a 6-team playoff (top team from each conference gets a bye), and a 6-team Toilet Bowl bracket both taking place over weeks 14-16.
Question 2: My league is entering its...
Posted by Moishe Steigmann | Feb. 26 at 12:24 PM
Let me throw out something that I put into my twelve-team league last year. One division, with games in weeks 1-13 and a typical six-team, three-week playoff. Each team plays every other team once (for eleven games). The other two games are against the teams that finished near you the previous year (i.e., last year's first-place team plays the second- and third-place teams a second time; the 2nd plays the 1st and 3rd; the 3rd plays the 1st and 2nd; the other groups, of course, are 4-6, 7-9, 10-12). For the first year, you have a couple of options: do 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10 + two new teams (or put them elsewhere, i.e., 7-8 + new team, 9-10 + new team); or, just make it random the first who plays each other for the other two games. It adds a little bit of "parity" and also makes it clear from get-go who gets the double-plays.
Question 2: My league is entering its...
Posted by michael picciano | May. 24 at 06:03 PM
21st season!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ian, please add more IDP info to the mag and especially the preseason internet updates. You guys are great but sometimes I have to go elsewhere for IDP info and analysis. Thanks